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Editorial

Truth is the first step

Improving city schools begins with understanding scope of problem

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Friday September 13, 2013 5:20 AM

Coming after years of performance reports that were tweaked, massaged and outright falsified to
make things look better, the truth of some matters regarding Columbus City Schools is painful.

But truth, and a lot more of it, is a necessary ingredient for bringing real improvement at
last.

Walnut Ridge High School got a dose of the truth with the release of state Department of
Education report cards for last school year. Instead of the 91 percent attendance rate the school
ostensibly had averaged in recent years, the report for 2012-13 — with numbers reported after the
widespread practice of manipulating student attendance data was revealed and then halted — showed
an attendance rate of 82.1 percent.

Linden-McKinley STEM Academy got a similar shock; with manipulated data, it had posted
attendance rates of 95 percent and above.

The honest number for 2012-13 is 87.4 percent.

It’s no surprise, given that investigators found some of the highest rates of data-scrubbing at
Walnut Ridge and Linden-McKinley.

Overall, according to state Auditor Dave Yost, whose investigation of the data- and
grade-manipulation scandal continues, the schools that did the most “scrubbing” are showing the
greatest drops in attendance.

And, strange as it may sound, Yost is right that those dropping numbers are good news.

Now that school officials know the real extent of the problem they’re facing, they can focus on
ways to encourage better attendance, and they’ll get a more-accurate picture of what actually
works.

The same goes for any academic marks, such as passing rates for standardized tests, that might
have fallen post-scrubbing.

With a clearer idea of how far the district really is from meeting the state standard — that
every test at every grade level should be passed by 75 percent of those taking it — principals and
other academic leaders can make better plans for helping more students master the material.

Interim Superintendent Dan Good and Mayor Michael B. Coleman, whose decision to get involved in
fixing the city’s schools brings unprecedented opportunity for change, set the tone for
truth-telling when they stood together to announce the district’s dismal report card last
month.

Rather than putting the best face on it, as has been the practice in the past, they declared
that the performance is unacceptable and vowed to see it improve.

Coleman has described his work with the schools as “the hardest thing I’ve ever been engaged in
as mayor.” Along with undertaking a crash course to learn about the issues and problems facing the
schools, he’s had to enlist members of the school board and assemble the diverse group of
educators, civic groups, religious leaders and business leaders who served on the Columbus
Education Commission, which he and City Council President Andrew J. Ginther convened in
January.

The set of 55 detailed recommendations approved unanimously by the group in April counts as one
of the mayor’s signature achievements.

With Good, the school board, Coleman and the community prepared to face the school district’s
true picture, there’s hope for that picture to get brighter.